Symbolic Overtones in Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death

The Red Death was a devastating disease which overpowered its victims within thirty minutes. The disease caused bleeding from ones pores, dizziness, sharp pains, and red patches upon the body. After approximately half of Prince Prospero’s court had been diminished by the Red Death, Prince Prospero sought seclusion with 1,000 of his friends, in hopes of avoiding contamination of the disease. The setting of Prince Prospero’s castle, which was secluded behind a “strong and lofty wall” (Poe, 1809-1849), with iron gates, is the primary setting for the story that unfolds. Prince Prospero intended to keep the rest of the world out and allow only beauty and laughter within, for there were only to be good times in the castle. No time for grief or thought.

After six months of seclusion, while the disease was at it strongest outside of the castle, Prince Prospero throws a masked ball for his guests; the ball was lavish and held in the imperial suite of the castle. The imperial suite consisted of seven chambers, each decorated in the Prince’s own bizarre style. The chambers ran east to west and six of the seven chambers were decorated with one color scheme of ornaments, windows, and tapestries. Starting at the eastern end was the blue chamber, then the purple chamber. The third chamber was green in color, the fourth chamber was orange in color, the fifth chamber was white in color, and the sixth chamber was violet. The last chamber, the seventh, was decorated differently. In the seventh chamber, black tapestries hung from ceiling to floor covering the walls. In this chamber, the windows did not match the color scheme as it did in the previous chambers, for in this chamber, the windows were scarlet red. No candles or lamps provided light to these chambers, instead there was light from windows at the east and west end, which reflected light through a tripod into each room. The light disbursement as it was presented into the black chamber was more bizarre. The light disbursement as it passed through the scarlet red window glass “…was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all” (Poe, 1809-1849). In this bizarre seventh chamber of black and scarlet, there stands a huge ebony clock. When the clock rings on the hour, the noise is tremendous. The noise is so loud that the orchestra stops playing and all conversation stops.

At midnight, not long after the reverberations of the last loud chime from the clock, the guests noticed a mysterious visitor. The guest was costumed in a mask of death, very realistic in appearance to that of a corpse. The Prince was so insulted by the costume that he demanded, “Seize him and unmask him — that we may know whom we have to hang at sunrise, from the battlements!” (Poe, 1809-1849). None of the guests would dare reach out and touch the grotesquely costumed mystery guest, for they were so frightened by the unknown aura of this visitor. The confrontation began in the eastern chamber, the blue room, and the guest proceeded to make his way through each colorful chamber, with Prince Prospero in pursuit. The guest finally halted when he reached the seventh chamber, the bizarre black and scarlet c with thlor scheme with the ebony clock. Prince Prospero had pursued the guest with a dagger, and when the guest turned to confront the Prince, “…the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero” (Poe, 1809-1849). The guests were outraged by the death of their Prince, and they hurried into the black room and threw themselves at the mysterious guest. The guests were mortified when they found that no person and no thing encompassed the substance under the mysterious façade of their visitor. The guests were astonished to find themselves within the presence of the Red Death, and every guest had died upon the unveiling of the mystery guest, and the clock ceased to chime and the light reflections from the tripods which lighted the rooms went dim.

The main character in the story is Prince Prospero, although the Prince only speaks once. Poe uses strong symbolic reference when he refers to the name of the Prince himself. Prosperity can be defined as good fortune; the financial condition of a person, the fame of a person, the description of the state of a person or place as being successful and in good spirits (Free Dictionary by Farlex, 2007). One can conclude that Prince Prospero was a prosperous man, with fortune, fame, and a generally optimistic and clever individual. Poe describes Prince Prospero as “…happy and dauntless and sagacious,” (Poe, 1809-1849). In the face of such a horrific disease, the Prince maintained his attitude and positive outlook on life. In The Masque of the Red Death, even prosperity cannot hide from death.

The obvious symbolism is the contrasts between life and death. The Prince seeks to block the miseries and horrors of death from his life by secluding himself. In this seclusion, Prince Prospero creates his own prison of death, as his prison symbolically resembles stages of life (Womack, 1997). The layout and color of the chambers runs from east to west, like that of the sun. The sun’s movement from east to west is symbolic to time; a day is counted upon the rising and setting of the sun. The layout of the rooms from east to west is symbolic of our days. The number seven is symbolic as it coincides with the history of the world,” (Womack, 1997). Seven is also significant as there are seven cardinal virtues to correlate with the seven deadly sins; and there were thought to be Seven Wonders of the World. The light that enters the rooms comes from without, not from within. Our lives are guided not from within, but from destiny, which is external.

Allegory can be defined as a symbolic representation of fictional characters or characteristics which express factual generalizations of human existence (Miriam Webster Online, 2007). When considering this story from an allegoric perspective, one can conceive that the seven rooms are representational of one’s life, with blue being birth, purple being dawn, green, orange, and white symbolize life, growth, and light. Violet can symbolize dusk, ending with black and red, being death. The red in the black room is symbolic of blood. The mystery guest starts his journey in the blue room. Prince Prospero begins his pursuit in the blue room, ending in the black room where he then dies “…in the final chamber of eternal night,” (Womack, 1997). Prince Prospero’s journey from the blue chamber to the final black and red chamber is symbolic of his birth, growth, light, and eventually his death.

The ebony clock in the final black chamber is also symbolic. When the hours are struck upon the ebony clock, Poe describes the impact the chimes of the clock had on the guests, “…the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation,” (Poe, 1809-1849). The clock is a reminder of our time in life in the black room of death. The chimes can symbolize death (Think Quest, 2007), for when death occurs, it can cause confusion for those who are living. The chiming death of the clock causes silence among the festivities, the guests stop all activities, and with their confusion of the chimes, there is also an ominous feeling that overcomes the guests; the happy, youthful guests grew pale at the sound, and the older guests appeared confused.

The entrance time of the mystery visitor also allows for symbolism. It is always darkest before dawn and after midnight strikes, a new day has begun, and it is only a matter of hours until dawn is upon us. Between midnight and dawn are the darkest hours, and the appearance of the guest shortly after midnight symbolizes the approach of a new day and the approach of an end to lives. The significance of the new day and the death of the guests at the party could also symbolize a new beginning for all; the beginning of their journey in another world as they exit this one.

The red death is described as the most hideous and fatal disease, ending with blood. The victims of the red death faced their finality when they experienced “…profuse bleeding at the pores…” (Poe, 1809-1849). The reader can conclude that the victims seeped blood from every pore on their body as they neared their death. The blood symbolizes death, and since blood is internal, death comes from within. Every human being has blood inside of them, which can be interpreted as every human being having death inside of them. Just as we must have blood within our veins to survive, we can never escape the death that in within us. When we experience bleeding, depending upon the amount of bloodshed, we experience fear as losing the blood from our bodies could result in losing our life.

Prince Prospero tried to escape death by putting on a gala event, masking the dismay and horrors that ravished the lands outside of his secluded sanctuary. Within the sanctuary, there is no time for grief, and beauty surrounds the guests. The most notable symbolism is the irony that in the most secluded area, in the most elaborate of settings, death finds those it wishes to take (Giddings, 1990). Regardless of how much one wishes to turn their backs on the reality and horrors that ravish our world, in spite of wealth and prosperity, death is inevitable, for everyone must face death.

Resources

Giddings, R. (1990). Rituals of Life and Death: Recurring Themes In The Works Of Edgar
Allen Poe. Retrieved on November 7, 2007 from:
http://global.cscc.edu/engl/299/PoeBestThemesRituals.htm

Miriam Webster Online. (2007). Allegory. Retrieved on November 7, 2007 from:
http://m-w.com/dictionary/allegory

Poe, E.A. (1809-1849). Masque of the Red Death. Extracted from The Literature Network.
(2007). Retrieved on November 7, 2007 from: http://www.online-literature.com/poe/36/

Think Quest. (2007). The Masque of the Red Death: Language and Symbolism. Retrieved on
November 7, 2007 from: http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC030479/language_symbolism.htm

Womack, R.M. (1997). Edgar Allen Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. Retrieved on
November 7, 2007 from: http://www.poedecoder.com/essays/masque/